This year's campaigns for Governor range from most expensive to the most ridiculous. We get a representative sample and hear how important state governors can be nationwide. Also, Also, the $60 billion US-Saudi arms deal, and what cutting government really means.

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This year's campaigns for Governor range from most expensive to the most ridiculous. We get a representative sample and hear how important state governors can be nationwide. Also, Also, the $60 billion US-Saudi arms deal. On Reporter's Notebook, Britain's Conservative Party won the majority by promising cutbacks. Now comes the pain.

Governorships are on the ballot in 37 states next month — including Ohio, California, Texas, Florida and New York — states that could be crucial in the 2012 presidential election and could have an impact on national politics for years to come. Governors can shape debate on public policy; they could resist implementing healthcare reform. And, after this year's census, they'll participate in redrawing congressional district boundaries, which could matter a lot in 2012. We hear about unemployment and the economy, a party called "The Rent is 2 Damn High," an incumbent who can shoot coyotes and the most expensive campaign of its kind in American history.

Britain's public deficit is proportionally even bigger than that of the US, and the newly elected government promised massive cuts. In the past two days, coalition leaders have announced a 19 percent reduction, including hundreds of thousands of layoffs. Welfare's being squeezed, government workers will lose their jobs and Prime Minister David Cameron concedes that Britain will "no longer be able to deploy forces of the size seen in Iraq and Afghanistan." That's according to Andrew Miller of Economist magazine.